With the government currently holding a consultation on the future of the Land Registry, proposing it’s part-privatisation, the PCS Union has said it will not rule out taking strike action.
The Land Registry has been a part of the civil service since 1862 and its office in Swansea employs over 400 people to gather and store information on property ownership in England and Wales, which currently totals 23 million properties.
As consultation continues on the future of the service, there is increased concern over jobs, pay, and new terms and conditions that could arise if the Land Registry is privatised.
James Sherwood-Rogers, chairman of the Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) commented on the possible strike action by 430 Welsh Land Registry employees over the privatisation plans:
“If more evidence is needed over the growing opposition to the government’s sham consultation on privatisation of the Land Registry then this is it. The very real possibility that Land Registry offices employing thousands of people throughout England will join forces to protect the service will have an immediate and devastating effect on the housing market causing delays and subsequent fall throughs of property transactions.
“CoPSO has already written to Minister Michael Fallon demanding he withdraw the current consultation immediately and talk to industry direct. We seriously believe there is a very real risk that centralisation and privatisation plans will destabilise the housing market. Homeowners will end up paying more for searches and there are serious concerns over the accuracy of the data that will be provided.”
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) is the major trade association for the property search industry. Members provide a broad range of property search reports and undertake over 2 million searches each year. T
The membership includes water companies, environmental search providers and organisations offering local searches, with CoPSO members producing 80 per cent -by volume – of all searches produced in the market.
